House Democrats push to raise intern pay to $15 per hour

A pair of House Democrats is pushing for a spending package coming to the House floor this week to include funding so lawmakers can pay their interns a minimum wage of $15 per hour.

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.) submitted an amendment to an appropriations package that would increase the intern compensation allowance by $2.7 million over the $11 million currently set aside in the legislation to pay interns who serve in House offices.

{mosads}Smith and Levin’s amendment would offset the increase to the intern fund by cutting an equal amount from accounts for the Architect of the Capitol and the Library of Congress.

The House Rules Committee is expected to meet later Monday and on Tuesday to decide which amendments to the spending package will get floor votes. 

Smith introduced legislation in late April that would permanently authorize funding to pay interns at a rate of at least $15 per hour, which would increase with changes in the consumer price index each year.

Smith and other lawmakers advocating to move away from the unpaid internship model say it helps ensure people from diverse backgrounds can work on Capitol Hill, where the cost of living is high. 

“Paid internships help to bring a diversity of ideas and backgrounds to both the Washington, D.C. and local district offices, and expand equality of opportunity for all to participate in our democracy,” Smith said in a statement at the time.

Lawmakers enacted legislation last year that allows each member office to use up to $20,000 per year to pay their interns. 

The $11 million currently allocated in the spending package for paying interns would increase the annual member office allowance from $20,000 to $25,000, which would amount to a $12 hourly wage for a full-time, 40-hour-per-week internship, up from the current $9.62 per hour.